


Mac Steals Charlie's Thing (Charlie Accepts His Own Sexuality)

by Masterofkarate



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Substance Abuse, The substance stuff is just mentioned, i just want charlie to be happy, recovery talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 03:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15573147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterofkarate/pseuds/Masterofkarate
Summary: So Charlie goes to the Scientist's for dinner after Mac comes out & he feels salty that Mac came out first.





	Mac Steals Charlie's Thing (Charlie Accepts His Own Sexuality)

“Mac’s gay,” Charlie said as he walked through the door after a long day.

“Yes, you've told me this before,” the scientist hummed, not turning around from the stove top.

“No, man, he came out,” Charlie answered.

“Oh, that's great news,” the scientist answered, glancing over his shoulder to gauge Charlie's feeling on the subject. Charlie's face was hard to read, he looked tired, but he often did after a long day of shenanigans with his friends.

“I guess,” Charlie shrugged and sat down at a chair around the table in the kitchen.

“You don't seem so happy,” the scientist said gently. He lowered the heat on the stove and put a lid over the pan before sitting across from Charlie.

“It's whatever, I guess,” Charlie mumbled. He looked petulant, but thoughtful.

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“No dude, I said it's whatever!” Charlie hopped up from his seat quickly. “Do you want help with dinner?”

“No, it's almost done,” the scientist answered, tilting his head a bit as he watched Charlie closely.

“I'm just gonna watch TV or whatever,” Charlie said before quickly exiting the room.

The scientist went back to cooking as Charlie rushed off. He heard the TV go on and he tuned it out as he focused on their meals. When it was ready, he made two plates and set them on the table himself. He poured himself a glass of juice and opened an O’douls for Charlie. 

He doesn't drink much himself, but once he and Charlie started seeing each other, it was clear Charlie had a substance abuse issue. He still wants so bad for Charlie to be clean and sober, for Charlie to get help, but it's been a struggle and Charlie is the only one who can do that for himself, they both agreed on that. For now, they've come to a compromise. It hurt the scientist too bad to watch a man he loves destroying himself, so the Charlie does not drink, huff, or use anything else around the scientist. Sometimes, Charlie goes on binges and they will lose contact for a day or two. He rarely misses set plans with the scientist, but he does just disappear sometimes. He always comes back filled with guilt, it hurts them both a lot. For their time together in the apartment, though, the scientist keeps non-alcoholic beers on hand. They do satisfy some of Charlie's cravings.

He walked into the living room to find Charlie sprawled out on the couch. He was stretched from end to end, hands extending past his head over the armrest. His grey hoodie was pulled up, exposing a bit of his belly. He looked calmed down compared to earlier. The scientist smiled warmly at the sight, he really did love this man.

“Hey love,” the scientist said as he walked slowly over to the couch, crouching to be at eye level with Charlie. “Dinner’s ready.”

With a yawn, Charlie sat up and followed him to the table. He thanked him for dinner and they started eating in silence. The scientist wanted to say something, but his mind was still on their earlier conversation. He wanted to bring it up, but he didn't want to upset Charlie again. Charlie was also quiet, which was unusual. His mind must have been in the same place.

They ate mostly in silence, but it wasn't too long- Charlie was always a fast eater. When Charlie was done, he started doing the dishes. When the scientist finished, he joined Charlie at the sink, drying things off and putting them away.

“Thank you, Charlie,” the scientist said softly. He leaned in to plant a chaste kiss on Charlie's cheek.

Charlie let the scientist kiss him but pulled away quickly, leading them to the living room without a word. He flicked on the TV and sat down.

The scientist joined him. He quickly fixed the setting to turn the captions on. He told Charlie he enjoyed them, but it was also a small way of hoping to improve Charlie's reading skills. They worked on reading a lot together, but he thought this might be a more passive way for Charlie to learn.

After a few quiet moments, the scientist asked, “Can we talk about why you were upset earlier?”

“It's dumb,” Charlie grumbled. “You're gonna laugh at me.”

“When's the last time I laughed at you?” The scientist said softly, scooting closer to Charlie.

“You don't usually,” Charlie huffed, despite sounding frustrated, he let his head fall on the scientist’s shoulder.

“So can you tell me why you're upset that Mac's out of the closet? I thought you'd be happy for your friend.”

“I feel like a dick,” Charlie mumbled.

“You're not a dick,” the scientist assured him gently. “Just because you feel a certain way doesn't make you a bad person. It's all about the choices we make.”

“I just feel like he stole my thing,” Charlie admitted. “Like I think, maybe, I might be gay or something.”

The scientist nodded, as if deep in thought. In the silence, he started to pet Charlie's hair to keep him calm. After a few seconds, he said, “I'm really proud of you for saying it out loud finally. Sexuality can be very confusing and hard to come to terms with. It's wonderful that you're starting to understand and accept your own sexuality.”

“Yeah, but now if I tell the gang, they're all gonna think I'm a copycat!” Charlie huffed indignantly, voice raising half an octave.

“Well, they may. Your friends can be quick to judge,” the scientist answered honestly. “But, first of all, you do not have to tell them right away if you don't want to. Second of all, you do have the evidence of our relationship to support yourself. Plus, you've explained to me their self-absorption, they will become less concerned with the issue as soon as something exciting or scandalous happens in their own lives again.”

“I guess, dude,” Charlie sighed. He closed his eyes as he relaxed in the scientist’s touch. “I just feel like I can't tell them. And I definitely don't wanna tell them about us. They ruin everything.”

“That's okay,” the scientist answered. “You're not required to tell anybody anything that you're not comfortable with. But if you do want to tell them about yourself, you are us. And if you do ever want to tell them about us, just know that they can't scare me away.”

Charlie laughed a little and nodded in agreement, “If I couldn't scare you away, nothing can.”

“Exactly, sweetheart,” the scientist answered, but his tone was playful. He placed a kiss on the top of Charlie's head.

“Now that I'm gay, does that mean we're actually dating?” Charlie asked, pulling away slightly to look at the scientist in the eyes.

“Only if you want,” the scientist answered.

“But will that make things weird? Do I have to be the girl?”

The scientist smiled a little. The ignorant comments were more frustrating at first. At this point, he understood that it was a mixture of things that made Charlie think like this- internalized homophobia, an unhealthy relationship with sex and romantic love, an ignorant and domineering group of friends, a general lack of education on certain subjects. By now, the scientist knew it wasn't worth it to get frustrated, it was better to just educate Charlie in a calm manner.

“No, nothing will change. We have been in an emotional and intimate relationship for some time now, a label will not affect our dynamic As for you being the girl, nobody will have to be the girl- we are both men and being in a relationship will not change that.”

Charlie nodded, taking it in. A few moments later, he started to smile brightly and said, “Okay, yeah. I want to be your manfriend. Like as long as we don't explode the dynamite, that sounds cool. If that's what you want, I mean.”

“I'd love that,” the scientist answered, smiling. Although Charlie didn't fully understand the context of everything he said, he knew Charlie understood the message, and that was enough. Now was not a time for correcting Charlie or working on his syntactical conception. He hummed after a moment and asked, “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes please,” Charlie said. He puckered his lips exaggeratedly and closed his eyes as he waited for the kiss. The scientist smiled fondly before leaning on to plant a kiss on Charlie's lips.

“I'm glad we're manfriends,” Charlie said after they pulled away, “And I'm glad I'm gay.”

“Well, I'm happy that you're happy,” the scientist answered. He added with a grin, “But for the record, I'm also glad we've taken this step.”

**Author's Note:**

> I uploaded like 4 Charlie-heavy fics in 2 days. I am very, very manic but I've got stuff coming up soon so I'll probably slow down. Or I'll continue to get inspirarion @ 5 am and will not slow down. We'll see.
> 
> Also I'm sorry if the scientist changes slightly in each fic, but that's why i love writing the character- very malleable.
> 
> Anyway, thank u for reading!


End file.
